Odds of a January 6 prosecution for Donald Trump just went up: legal expert

New reporting this week revealed that special counsel Jack Smith secured testimony from former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, a massively important figure who was close to former President Donald Trump for years. That could make insurrection-related charges more likely.

A key takeaway, said New York University law professor Ryan Goodman on CNN's "OutFront," is that the January 6 investigation — long considered less likely than the classified documents investigation to produce charges against Trump — should not be ruled out so quickly.

"If you had [Meadows] and he really did give you those keys to the kingdom — we don't fully know that yet, but if so, how much — how does that change your view on the potential slate of charges related to January 6th?" asked Burnett.

"I think it really rachets up the likelihood that there will be charges against Donald Trump for January 6th, and especially the false slate of electors, which we know is one of the most robust parts of the investigation and there would have to have been court approval of the Justice Department's criminal theory of the case, because they have approved search warrants in that case," said Goodman.

The key question to ask here, argued Goodman, is "Why would they give Meadows immunity?"

"They would give him immunity because he could go — he could give them access to the star suspect," Goodman added. "That's the reason that you would give somebody immunity who otherwise has a lot of criminal jeopardy on his own. That's the deal. And so that's why it's enormously significant if he's cooperating."

Watch the interview below or at the link.

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